WORCESTER - Balancing on "surfboards,’’ 6-year-old Davis Corvello and his little brother Dean rode some gnarly waves without getting wet in "Run! Jump! Fly!" a fun new exhibit at the EcoTarium museum.

Wearing pigtails tied with red ribbons, 8-year-old Meihua Zhu swung along the horizontal monkey bars. "Look at me!’’ she called, then pausing for a photo by her grandmother

After learning "the ancient power of kung fu’’ from a video of a Chinese master, energetic Luke Putney unleashed a series of kicks and punches like a 7-year-old Bruce Lee.

On a sultry Tuesday morning, a steady stream of children took the exhibit’s subtitle, "Adventures in Action," to heart while parents and grandparents looked on.

Created by the Minnesota Children’s Museum, "Run! Jump! Fly!’’ features about 10 interactive stations at which young visitors perform basic physical movements that mimic sports or recreational activities like skiing, dancing or yoga.

Directions for each station are given in English and Spanish. Several stations have been modified to accommodate children in wheelchairs.

While most kids would have said they were just having a blast, Director of Exhibits Betsy Loring observed the young visitors were "rediscovering the fun’’ of being active in a noncompetitive environment that provides lessons about sharing and teamwork.

"Children can learn through playing,’’ she said. "It’s designed to remind children and parents they can have fun through physical activities and become more active on a daily basis.’’

While a museum press release stated the exhibit "was created in response to the U.S.’s growing obesity epidemic’’ among children, connections between physical activity and healthy living are mostly implied at the museum.

Children from about 4 to 14 years old pedaled to turn "helicopter’’ blades, learned rudimentary yoga positions and danced like Lady Gaga – sort of – in the ground-floor exhibit.

Zhu’s mother, Ruiping Niu of Worcester, said she didn’t want her daughter "to spend her summer watching TV.’’ "Young children should learn the habit of being active. Lazy bones don’t succeed in America,’’ she said.

While several stations included digital elements, most simply replicated movements that might be found on any playground.

Prompted by their parents, 6- and 8-year-old sisters Penny and Cindy Kiley of Oxford imitated – with plenty of giggles – yoga postures called the "tree pose’’ and the "cat pose.’’

After fearlessly jumping from ersatz rocks to ledges, sturdy MacLain Greene successfully traversed a station that challenges youngsters to "choose a path to climb across the canyon.’’ "I wasn’t scared,’’ the 5-year-old from Millbury told his mom. "I wasn’t even tired.’’

Some exhibits combine physical activities with cultural lessons.

Eugene Lopes led his 6-year-old son, Julian, into an imitation Asian temple bearing the sign "Tap into the ancient power of kung-fu,’’ where they watched a video of father and son demonstrate the ancient Chinese fighting style popularized by Bruce Lee.

Page 2 of 2 - As her grandmother watched, 6-year-old Gabriella Pangoulopoulos of Cumberland, Rhode Island, pedaled fast enough to make the wings of a sort of helicopter flap up and down.

Watching his 4-year-old son, Jack Lewis of Framingham said exhibits like "Run! Jump! Fly!’’ are ways for children to have fun while learning.

Like any playground, some children had accidents.

When 4-year-old Amy Santos ran out of "Toddler Pyramid’’ and fell on the floor, she couldn’t make up her mind whether or not to cry. Her father, Bernie Santos, wearing a Marines jersey, picked her up and carried her to a nearby station where together they followed the moves of dancing children on a screen.

In an adjacent area outside the museum, a dozen children gathered in the Imagination Playground to build castles or miniature racetracks with foam building blocks.

Loring said older children often decide what sort of structure they’ll build, while younger siblings help put it together.

"You’ll often see cooperation between families. That’s how children learn,’’ she said. "Very often there’s very little difference between learning and playing.’’

Chris Bergeron is a Daily News staff writer. Contact him at cbergeron@wickedlocal.com or 508-626-4448. Follow us on Twitter @WickedLocalArts and on Facebook.